Acumen Fund

                  I like the philosophy of this fund for several reasons. First of all, I like the amount of respect they have for the people that they are helping. They're right when they say that charity isn't always the answer. Yes, there are desperate situations where immediate and free help is needed, but people can be intelligent and ambitious as well as being poor, so really it's better to work with them than to just throw money at them and then feel good about yourself. And as Seth Godin points out, there is no incentive to work harder with many charity cases. However, the Acumen Fund seeks to give people both help and respect, which I think is a vital combination for any charity that wants to succeed.

                  I also like how this concept is financially stable on it's own. I had a friend who was a member of the La Sierra chapter of SIFE, and he spent an entire year coming up with an idea that would help people and still make him money. And then he went to a conference where all the other chapters from all the other schools got together and shared their ideas for helping people and making money. And really, there are so many ways that's possible; we just haven't spend a lot of time generating ideas. I heard a great quote once about economics that basically said that while people often think that one side must give for the other side to gain, real economics can have both parties mutually benefit. And I think the Acumen Fund, even though it is not a commercial organization, is seeking mutual benefits, for the fund and for the people they help. And a nonprofit organization that gets money from more revenues than simple donation is an excellent idea.